Signal or clip



1932- c. s. CARTER ET AL 1,859,997

SIGNAL OR CLIP Filed May 27, 1931 Patented Aug. 2, 1932 Para CHAPEL S. CARTER, OF ORANGE, AND JOHN H. DUNCAN, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT,

' ASSIGNOIRS TO THE H. C. COOK COMPANY, OF ANSONIA, CONNECTICUT. i

SIGNAL OR CLIP Application filed May 27, 1931. Serial No. 540,342.

This invention relates to a signal or clip for use in a card index and for other purposes, and more particularly to a signal or clip adapted to be adjustably secured to the edge of a card or the like. It is, in general, an object of the invention to provide a signal or clip of the above type which may be readily applied to the edge of a card or adjusted thereon, but which may not he accidentally 1o detached from the card or moved thereon especially on contact with other cards or" the card index.

The invention relates especially to a signal or clip formed out of thin sheet metal or 1.5 other resilient material, in which a pair of legs are provided which may straddle and grip therebetween a card, the ends of the legs being formed to permit the ready application of the clip to the card.

To these and other ends, the inventionconsists in the novel features and combinations of parts to be hereinafter described 7 and claimed.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a clip according to our invention on an enlarged scale;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the clip shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along to line 3-3 of Fig. 1, but on an enlarged scale;

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view along line M of Fig. 1, likewise on an enlarged scale, and

Fig. 5 is a plan View of a modified form 55 of the invention.

Referring now to the drawing in which we have illustrated our invention by showing some preferred embodiments of the same, and with special reference at present to Figs. e2 1 to l inclusive, the reference numeral indicates in general, the improved clip which, in this instance, is formed out of a flat strip of metal having a tab or finger piece 11 cut or struck from an intermediate portion thereof, the strip being bent intermediate its length as at 12, to form a pair of legs 13 and 14;, of which leg 13 is somewhat longer than leg 14, the tab 11 forming a continuation of leg 13.

Legs 13 and 1a incline towards one another and contact at a point 15 adjacent their ends, the leg 13 being bent outwardly at 16 and rounded over at 17 to form a hump, the extreme end 13 of which is inclined in the general direction of and beyond the plane of leg 14. Leg 1 1 is for the most part somewhat flat and extends beyond the point of contact 15 to a point intermediate the outwardly bent part 16 and the end 18 of leg 13, where it terminates in a point 19 in spaced relation to leg 13. The points 18 and 19 of legs 13 and 14 with respect to their side edges are angular in form and are provided with corresponding parallel side edge portions 20 and 21, 22 and 23, which are in transversely offset spacedrelation to one another.

In Fig. 5 of the drawing we have shown another form the invention may take, this form difiering chiefly from that shown in Fig. 1 in that the tab 11 is omitted. In this 7 form, legs 24 and 25 are provided with angularly pointed ends 26 and 27. The corresponding side edges 28 and 29, 30 and 31 are in parallel spaced relation and transversely offset similarly to the ends of legs 13 and 14.

In operation, a card is inserted between the ends 18 and 19 of the legs 13and 14-, the spaced and particularly the ofiset relationship of these ends permitting the ready passage of the card therebetween, the clip being forced on to the card until the edge portion of the card is adjacent the doubled-over portion 12 of the clip. /Vhen positioned on the card, the end 18 of leg 13 presses into the card on one side thereof while the end 19 of leg 14 presses into the card on the opposite side. The adjacent cards of the card index may thus ride over the ends of the clip without any danger of moving the latter.

While we have shown and described a preferred embodiment of our invention, it will be understood that it is not to be limited to all of the details shown, but is capable of modification and variation within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

What we claim is:

1. A signal or clip for a card of a card index or the like, comprising a strip of thin resilient material doubled upon itself to form a pair of legs, said legs terminating in angularly pointed ends, the corresponding sides of the pointed ends being in parallel spaced relation, the extreme ends of the legs being transversely offset with respect to one another, and said legs lying in flat contact at a point above but adjacent to said spaced ends.

2. A signal or clip comprising a pair of legs adapted to receive and grip a card therebetween, said legs being connected together at one end of the clip and being of unequal length, said legs being in contact at a point above but adjacent to the free ends thereof and being provided with inwardly tapered sides at the opposite end of the clip from said connection, the ends of said legs being bent slightly towards one another, the longer of said legs being provided with a relieved portion into which a card may be displaced by the end of the shorter leg, the points on both legs pressing into and being carried below the surface of the card, and the points on said legs being transversely offset with respect to one another.

3. A signal or clip comprising a strip of thin resilient material doubled upon itself to form a pair of legs, said legs being in contact at a point intermediate their lengths and terminating in pointed free ends, the said ends being bent inwardly toward each other and being spaced transversely from each other so as to provide a V-shaped mouth therebetween within which a card or the like may be inserted.

4. A signal or clip for a card of a card index or the like comprising a strip of thin resilient material doubled upon itself to form a pair of legs, said legs terminating in free ends reduced in width, and said ends being transversely offset with respect to one another, and means on the offset ends of the legs for guiding other cards over said ends and preventing other cards from catching on said ends.

In witness whereof, We have hereunto set our hands this 25th day of May, 1931.

CHAPEL S. CARTER. JOHN H, DUNCAN. 

